Summary
- Awards shows continue to face challenges with jokes and humorous asides, as presenters risk being called out as disrespectful or out of touch.
- Ariana DeBose’s unamused reaction to a scripted joke at the Critics Choice Awards highlights this issue.
- Will Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards is another example of the consequences of jokes that go too far.
Hot on the heels of Taylor Swift’s viral reaction to a Golden Globes joke by host Jo Koy, the 2024 Critics Choice Awards was not short of a misplaced scripted joke or two. Standing out among them was a jibe made at the expense of, among others, Wish and West Side Story star Ariana DeBose, which led to another barrage of online complaints about awards show humor.
The joke in question was delivered by The Last of Us actor Bella Ramsey, while presenting the award for Best Song, who, as scripted, quipped that DeBose, along with Ryan Gosling and Jack Black, are “actors who think they are singers.” This remark was met with a visibly unamused reaction from DeBose, who furrowed her brows as the camera caught her during the broadcast.
As an Academy Award-winning actor, Tony nominee, and Broadway star, DeBose unsurprisingly responded to the joke later that night on her Instagram account. Sharing her feelings about the jibe, the actress bluntly wrote:
No, I didn’t find it funny.
The response from her followers, which totals in excess of 700,000, was instantaneous, with many quick to list the star’s many credentials to counter the idea that she is just “an actress who thinks she can sing.” They highlighted DeBose’s impressive career, particularly noting her Oscar-winning role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s 2021 adaptation of West Side Story, and her status as an original cast member of the Broadway hit Hamilton, just for starters.
The Critics Choice Association’s spokesperson later confirmed that the joke was scripted for Ramsey but would not be drawn into any further comment on the matter. While there were many who were happy to accept that Ramsey, and her co-presenter Anthony Ramos, were simply reading the material put in front of them, that didn’t stop some taking a personal swipe at Ramsey over the joke.
Related: Exclusive: Ariana DeBose Talks Wish, Being a New Disney Hero, and Asha’s Legacy
Are Awards Ceremony Jokes Out of Touch?
DeBose’s reaction to the joke at the Critics Choice Awards highlights the challenges awards events are currently facing, when presenters and hosts are expected to deliver jokes and humorous asides – usually at the expense of some of those present – but are constantly being called out as being disrespectful, offensive or out of touch when they do. Only last week, Golden Globes host Jo Koy was forced to defend his opening monologue, which was slammed on social media both during and after the event.
It is not an isolated incident either, as many who witnessed Will Smith’s “slap heard around the world” at the Academy Awards in 2022 will remember. That commotion was the result of host Chris Rock making a joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith, and saw her husband Will take to the stage in her defense in the most unprecedented way; by slapping Rock in front of a global audience of millions. The ramifications of Smith’s response to that joke are still being felt now, and while the slap has been addressed many times, including as, ironically, a joke at the 2023 Oscars ceremony, it seems that the kind of expected humorous banter that led to it continues to pose a problem for awards shows now.
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